The premiere tennis championship, the Colombo Tennis Championships will come alive for the 100th occasion in line with the Sri Lanka Tennis Association’s centenary celebration and will feature over 900 players which will include players from Pakistan and Bangladesh as well.
The Sri Lanka Tennis Association, the sole governing body for Tennis in the country celebrates its three figure this year since its inception in 1915. The Colombo Tennis Championships which started off a year after SLTA’s establishment is Sri Lanka’s only premiere clay court Tennis championship and one of the two Super A Grade tennis tournaments in Sri Lanka. The 100th championships will be worked off from the 12th – 28th of June 2015 at the Sri Lanka Tennis Association courts with a record breaking participation over 900 applicants from around the country.
The 100th championship will feature age groups from Under10-18 for both boys and girls and the veterans will feature in the over 35,45,55 & 65 age categories. In a move to take the tournament to the international level, the 100th title run will include top seeds from Bangladesh and Pakistan.
One of the main motives of the tournament being to mould the talent in the junior levels, the tournament will consist of over 27 events for the age categories between Under 10 and Under 16. The junior doubles events will be held for participants from under 10-18 categories respectively and the men’s/women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles in the open have also been scheduled. The open category will have the inclusion of Sri Lanka’s top seeds who will eye the Open category title. Mr. Dinusha Wijesuriya has been appointed as the Referee for the Tournament while Mr. Udith Wickremasinghe will play the role as Tournament Director.
Speaking to ThePapare, Mr. Asoka Abeywardena President of the SLTA Playing section, shared the following views, “Through this sponsorship we have been able to keep the entry fee at a minimal level, thereby offering maximum opportunities for players to enroll themselves for the tournament. Being one of the oldest tournaments to be held in Sri Lanka, the 100th Colombo Championships will be celebrated in a grand scale this year with attractive cash prizes and valuable tokens to be given away to the winners,”
